Sleeping Love
by undeniable88
Summary: Edward is a good-looking, cocky guy, who uses women. What happens when his dad, a neurosurgeon, hires him to sit every day with a girl who's in a coma? Will he do as he's paid to do and keep her company or will he go above and beyond... and fall in love.
1. Alright, you have a deal

**Here is my new story. I also have one titled Falling For Butterflies. They arent' linked in any way, but just in case you were looking for some more reading material, there you go. :) Enjoy. **

**Stephenie Meyer owns all characters. :)**

**Chapter 1**

I stretch in bed and reach over to my left and that's when I feel the warmth of another body. All the previous night's activities come back to me. Another night, another chick. My mom and dad hate that I treat women like a pair of shoes. Just get one off (pun intended) and then I put another one right back on. Hey, don't judge, that was mom's analogy actually. Ah, my parents… where to begin. I have the greatest parents ever and I know everyone, well almost everyone, says that they have the best parents, but trust me it's really me that has the best.

My dad is a famous Neurosurgeon at Seattle Mercy. Yeah, Carlisle's a genius and he's the most compassionate person I've ever met, well next to my mom anyway. My mom Esme supports me in everything I do, even when I'm doing nothing, which is the current status I've selected. I told my parents the other night that I was taking a break from Medical School and was just going to live for a while. My dad was a little upset at first, but in the end I think he realized that it's my life, so my call. Yeah, like I said the best parents ever.

I look to the nightstand and see that it's time for me to get out of here before… shit, didn't even catch this one's name. Well, before whoever wakes up, definitely don't need a repeat of that Jessica Stanley chick. She was seriously messed up. I had meant for that to be an easy fuck, but nope no such luck. Karma can be a bitch like that. That girl turned stalkerish in a hurry, always calling and just 'dropping by' my dorm. Girl was crazy! I pull on my clothes and don't even look back as I head out the door.

On my way home (by home I mean my parents' house) I stop and get a coffee at a nearby coffee shop. I catch words from all the different conversations going on and hear someone bitching about how an employee hasn't shown up for work all week and they haven't been able to get in touch with them. I hear another going on in a dramatic way asking if anyone heard about that 'horrible' car accident that happened last weekend.

"_Heard it was a head on collision. Head on into a semi. They say that one of the passengers actually survived it."_

"_There's no way! How could anyone survive hitting a semi head on at 60mph?"_

"_That's what I heard. That it was a man and woman in the front of the car that got killed, but their daughter who was lying down in the back survived."_

"_Did you hear how the girl was?"_

"_Nah, just that she survived it."_

I finally got my coffee and headed towards my parents' house. When I got there I noticed my dad's car was once again not home. I haven't really seen too much of him this week. He's been at the hospital a lot more than usual. I've been meaning to ask my mom about that. I walk through the door and hear my mom humming from the kitchen.

"Hey mom." I say as I hop up onto the counter.

"Hey sweetie. You look rough." She said with a smile and I leaned down so she could kiss my cheek. Yeah, I'm a momma's boy…. What's it to ya?

"Yeah it was another fun-filled night. Where's dad?" I ask as I grab a piece of bacon off the plate as she passes me.

"He's at the hospital."

"He's been spending a lot of time there this week. What's going on? Everybody needing a new brain?" I laughed.

My mother gave me a smile, but no laugh. Uh, oh this is serious. "There's a new patient. He's grown attached to her."

"Do I need to have a talk with dad?"

She laughed then. "Oh no sweetie! It's not like that! I didn't mean attached like that. Her case is difficult, and…" My mom stopped and had a very distraught look come on her face.

I hopped off the counter and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Mom, what is it?"

"She has no family." My dad said as he walked into the kitchen, causing both me and my mom to jump.

"Honey, I thought you were going to be there most of the day." My mom said as she walked over to him.

"I was planning on it, but there's only so much I can take of sitting there and realizing that there's no one to contact for her."

"She has no family at all? How is that possible?" I asked baffled.

"Her parents are both deceased; they didn't have any siblings and both their parents had already passed away. She is an only child so there's no one we can contact. I just hate thinking that she's lying there in a hospital bed barely fighting for her life and there's no one there to encourage her to keep fighting. She's giving up, it's obvious."

"What do you mean honey?" My mom asked as she guided him to one of the kitchen chairs.

"Her vitals have dropped. I mean everything. Her blood pressure is so low, and her pulse just keeps decreasing. Her blood count is even worse than when she was brought in. I've looked for internal injuries, but can't find any. I've even had general surgeons in there trying to find the cause, but they're also coming up with nothing." My dad let his head fall into his hands.

"Dad, sorry, but I'm having a little trouble understanding how you're involved here. I mean is there brain damage or something? All the things you've said so far, sounds like mostly general surgeon's stuff. What happened to her anyway?"

"Sorry son, I forgot you weren't here when I got the call about her. She was in a car accident last weekend. Her parents were in the car with her. A semi driver fell asleep at the wheel and crossed the yellow line hitting them head on. Her mom was killed instantly." He sighed and tried to stop his tears before he went on. "Her dad was thrown through the windshield and he was still alive when they took him to the hospital. He even opened his eyes once at the scene." My dad took another shaky breath. "The paramedics that were on scene said that he kept trying to look around, like he was looking for someone. They assumed that he was searching for his wife and when they told him that she was on her way to the hospital he got upset. He kept repeating something over and over again. Finally one of the paramedics was able to catch what he was saying. He kept saying 'Bella, car'. The paramedic yelled for someone to check the car again, that there was possibly another victim. When a firefighter checked the car he didn't see her, but he noticed that the rear window of the car was completely broken. So he started searching around the scene and found her about 20 feet up from the accident lying in a ditch."

"Oh my god." I said as I could picture the whole scene in my head.

"They say that her father immediately calmed down as soon as they said that they had found her. They took him to the hospital and he died in surgery. There was just too much internal damage. His daughter, well, she's alive, but that's as good as it gets. She's in a coma. There is so much swelling around her brain that we didn't even have to induce the coma. Her back is broke and the surgeons say that could possibly be fixed, depending on how it heals while she's in the coma. They can't operate until the swelling around her brain goes down. She has multiple and I mean multiple internal injuries. I'm worried there could be brain damage when she finally does wake up."

"It's such a sad thing." My mom said shaking her head.

"How old is she dad?" I asked curious. It didn't sound like we were talking about a little girl.

"According to the driver license we found, she's 22. She's so young. It's so sad. I just wish that she wasn't there all alone."

"Maybe we could find someone who would be willing to sit with her for a certain amount of time every day. You know, keep her company and encourage her to fight." My mom said with a heartwarming smile. "I could sit with her on the days that I'm off."

My dad smiled at her. "Thanks honey, that's not a bad idea. I was planning to sit with her on some of my days off too." My dad pulled her into a one armed hug.

I cleared my throat. "Uh, I could sit with her on my days off too, well, whenever I get a job to have a day off." I gave a little laugh.

My dad's eyes lit up and I could see the light bulb actually form over his head. "Actually son, what if I made that your job?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well what if I pay you to sit with her every day. I'll pay you $40 an hour to sit with her for however long you can every day. It doesn't have to be all day, just whenever you can, but it does have to be every day. This way even though you're taking a break from medicine, you're still close to it." He raised his hand to me across the table. "Do we have a deal?" He asked with one of the famous crooked Cullen grins.

I sat there and thought about what he said. It's an easy way to make some cash. Visiting hours at the hospital are from 8am to 8pm so if I stayed the whole day with her then I would make $480 just for one day. This idea doesn't sound too bad. I looked up at my dad and smiled taking his hand to shake. "Alright, you have a deal."

**Okay there's chapter 1... what do you think? Should I keep going?**


	2. Don't worry, you will

**Okay here is Chapter 2... I was just so excited about this story that I couldn't stop myself! All of your amazingly, sweet review helped encourage me too! Thanks so much for the kind words everybody! You all are too sweet! I'm really excited about this story because I have so many thoughts for it bouncing around in my head and they're wanting to get out. lol. Anyway, so here is the second chapter. Enjoy. :)**

**Chapter 2**

SMACK! There alarm, take that! I decided to get up at 7 this morning so I could get ready and be at the hospital by 8. I figured for my first day I'd spend the whole 12 hours of visiting time there. It's been 3 days since my dad and I made this deal. He wanted me to wait a few days to start because he wanted to explain our arrangement to the nurses and other doctors that were on her case. So here I am at 7 fucking A.M. getting ready for my first day of literally sitting on my ass.

I get in the shower and wash away all the tension. I now stand here staring at my closet trying to figure out what is best to wear. I mean technically this is a job and for a job you need to dress nice. On the other hand, I am just going to be sitting in a hospital room all day, so I should dress comfortably. Which one should I pick…. Comfortable it is. Some nice jeans and a button down, nice yet casual. Alright now what type of entertainment shall I take with me; I'm going to need something to keep me occupied. I could dig out my old gameboy… how old are we? So, gameboy is a no then. I'll stop by the store and grab some magazines and a newspaper or something. I'm pretty sure the hospital rooms have TV so that will be another form of entertainment.

On my way out the door I see a deck of cards sitting on my dresser, so I grab those up real quick and slide them into my pocket. Both mom and dad are already gone to work so I grab my keys and head for the store before heading off to my new job. At the store I get eyed by every chick I pass and I'm really noticing right now because it's been 4 nights since my last roll in the hay. So yeah, needless to say I'm a little horny. Oh well, I unfortunately don't have time to smooze the ladies. I grab up a couple of car magazines and the local newspaper along with a Coke; lord knows I'm going to need some type of caffeine to keep me awake all day.

When I get to the hospital I notice the mass chaos, well I guess I should call it organized chaos. People shouting orders and stats left and right; ah, there must be a trauma coming in. I make my way to the front desk and ask them to page my dad. I wait for about five minutes before he finally calls the front desk and tells them to have me come up to the 5th floor. The elevator ride up was interesting, I was getting eye fucked by this one chick and trust me if I had time and there wasn't anyone else in here I would have my way with her against the wall. Like I said, I'm horny.

The elevator doors open and I see the huge sign reading "Intensive Care Unit" on the wall. Fanfuckingtastic! ICU, great. This just got even worse. They still better have a TV in her room. I walk up to the Nurse Station and my dad is there chatting with one of them about another case.

"Hey son! I didn't expect you to be here this early, but I'm glad you are." He patted my shoulder.

"Yeah I figured I could spend the whole day today, to kind of get used to it. So, uh, where is she?" I ask, just wanting to get this over with.

"I'll take you there in just a second, Edward. Let me introduce you to her nurses. This here is Angela Webber; she's the head nurse on Bella's case." I shook Angela's hand, and noticed the engagement ring, okay she's off limits, good to know. She seems sweet though, like she really cares. "Angela is here until 3pm when her replacement arrives. If you're still here at that time, then I'll introduce you to the head evening nurse that is on Bella's case. This here is Rosalie Hale; she's the other daytime nurse and she also leaves at 3pm." I shook Rosalie's hand, no ring, but she's not really my type. She seems to be more of my brother Emmett's type. "These two are assigned to Bella's case and her case only. I need someone monitoring her at all times so these two and the two evening nurses serve as my eyes and ears." He gave me a look as if he was asking me if I was keeping up with him.

"Good to know. I assume they know who I am and why I'm here." I asked looking at him and then both the nurses.

"Yes we are aware that you will be sitting with Bella every day, for as long as you can. I think it's really great of you to do that…" She paused; I guess she didn't think she could use my first name.

"Edward." I finished for her. She smiled at me and nodded. Just then an alarm started sounding off on one of the machines at the nurses' station.

"Shit! She's coding!" Rosalie shouted and all three started running off.

"Edward stay there! Let me get her stable!" My dad yelled over his shoulder as he followed after the nurses. I just stood there at the nurses' desk and stared after them. I saw a few more nurses and another doctor head in the same direction.

"What the hell did I get myself into?" I asked myself as I leaned against the counter. I then felt something tugging on my pants. I looked down into the bluest eyes I've ever seen. It was a little girl, who couldn't be more than 6. "Can I help you?" I asked looking down at her.

"You're here to see Bella?" Man, this chick's name is all over the hospital I guess.

I looked around to see if I could spot this little girl's parents anywhere. She tugged on my pants again, but this time she tugged harder. "I asked you a question mister."

I laughed a little and then knelt down to her level. "I'm sorry little lady, you did ask me a question. I'll answer you if you agree to answer one of mine after. Deal?" I asked and she nodded. "Okay, yes I'm here to see Bella. Now my question, where are your parents?"

She turned and looked behind her pointing towards one of the room doors. "Oh, they're in there. Don't worry the nurses know me; I'm allowed to be here. Do you love her?"

I choked on my own spit when that last thing popped out of her mouth. "Who? Bella?" She nodded and I laughed. "No, I don't love her. I haven't even met her yet."

The little girl put her hand on my cheek and patted it after a second. "Don't worry, mister. You will." She gave me a big grin before she went into one of the nearby rooms.

"Weird." I stood back up and went back to leaning on the desk. My dad came back with the nurses a few minutes later.

"Okay son, follow me and I'll introduce you two." He smiled sadly and started leading the way.

"You got her stable?" I asked as we walked down the hall.

"Yes, it took us a few tries this time. It takes one more try every time she crashes now. I'm getting worried." My dad slowed to a stop outside of one of the rooms. Room 513 with the word Swan written on a dry erase board hanging under it.

I raised an eyebrow at him and nodded towards the sign. "Swan?"

My dad laughed. "That's her last name. Her name is very fitting actually."

"What do you mean?"

"She's a very beautiful young woman, even with all the bruises and scrapes on her face. Her first name is Isabella, but we're guessing she goes by Bella since that's what her dad called her. Bella in Italian means 'Beautiful' and then her last name is Swan. So as you see, her name is very fitting." I just stood there staring at him. "Come on, you'll see what I mean."

My dad opened the door and motioned for me to follow. I could hear all the machines beeping when I walked in. There was a curtain pulled halfway out trying to block her from the door. When my dad got close enough he began to push the curtain back and when he did; my breath was taken away. He's right; man, she's a looker. Even with all the bruising and the casts. She's beautiful. Brown hair, that looks to be fairly long. I can't get that good of a look at her face due to the tube down her throat and all the other tubes and wires hooked to her.

My dad came to stand next to me and clasped my shoulder with his hand. "Told ya." He whispered.

I cleared my throat. "Yeah she's definitely easy on the eyes. So what are the rules?" I turned my attention to my dad, well, now my boss.

"There's not really too many rules; just don't ignore her. You're being paid to keep her company, son. I expect you to talk to her." He raised his hand to stop me from interrupting. He knows me too well. "I know that sounds weird and can be awkward, but I think she can everything people say to her. Don't ask me why I think that, I just do. Gut feeling. You can watch TV just keep the volume to a respectable level. You can read to her and you can even eat in here. You are allowed to leave the room whenever you wish, just let the nurses at the desk know when you do. You're allowed to touch her, and by that I don't mean any 'funny business'. I mean you can hold her hand or touch her face. If you touch her I just ask that you mind her injuries. I think that covers everything, unless you have any questions." My dad looked to me.

I thought it over. "Uh, yeah what do I do if one of her machines starts freaking out again?"

"Well the nurses should hear it and be on their way already, but still hit the nurses button on her bed right here." He showed me which button to hit.

"Okay, cool. Uh, one more and then I should be good to go. What if anyone comes in here? Like someone other than a doctor or a nurse? Just call for the nurses again?" I asked pointing to the button he'd shown me.

"Yeah, that would probably be best, but I don't imagine anyone would be wandering in here." He smiled sadly down at Bella's sleeping form. "Okay well, I'll leave you to it then. The nurses will be in occasionally to check her and you." He smiled at me. "I'll be in and out as well. Just have them page me if you need me, son." I nodded and he left. I stared at the door for a few more seconds before I looked back down at the sleeping beauty before me.

I looked behind me and found a chair. I pulled it up to the side of her bed and cleared my throat. Why the hell am I nervous all the sudden? "So, um, I'm Edward." I looked at her, why I'm not sure. I guess I was expecting her to miraculously answer me. I cleared my throat again, frustrated with my idiotic self. "My dad hired to sit with you every day; I hope that's okay with you. Well, I guess you don't have much of a choice do you? It's not like you can protest it or anything." I laughed and then felt bad as I looked at her. "Sorry, that was out of line." I laughed loudly at myself and shook my head. "Wow, I just apologized to a girl in a coma. Why? I don't know. I think my dad's losing it. I don't really think you can hear me." I looked at her and felt guilty once again. "Damn it, I'm sorry. I guess I should warn you although I'm pretty sure it's fairly obvious by now that I like to use morbid humor in situations like this. So I'm going to go ahead and apologize to you now, you know in fair warning."

"Let's start over, shall we? You're Bella Swan, and I'm Edward Cullen." I grab her hand gently to shake it. As I hold her hand though I feel a little zap shoot through my arm. "Whoa!" What the hell is that? Is that from one of her machines or something? Oh yeah, that's it dumbass! One of her machines is pumping electricity through her blood so that way she can electrify anyone who touches her soft skin. Damn! She has really soft hands. I was finally pulled from my drowning thoughts when I heard the door close.

There coming to stand at the end of the bed was my new little lady friend. "Hi, again." I smiled at her.

She smiled back at me. "Hi. See I told you that you would love her. Isn't she beautiful?" The little lady came over to stand by me as she admired Bella in the bed.

I laughed. "She is very beautiful, you are right about that, but unfortunately you are still wrong about one thing. I don't love her." I let go of Bella's hand then. I then held it out to the little girl standing next to me. "What is your name little lady? I didn't get a chance to get it before. I'm Edward."

She took my hand and shook it firmly. Wow, impressive for a tiny little thing. "I'm Lily, nice to meet you Edward. I just wanted to come check on her. I like her." She said as she smiled up at Bella.

"How can you like her? She's sleeping all the time. You don't know what she's really like." I asked her confused. Hopefully this kid knows not to trust everyone and not to take candy from strangers.

"I just do. She's very pretty. Someone that pretty can't be mean and she looks like Belle from Beauty and the Beast. So she can't be mean." The little girl then stands up on her tiptoes to kiss Bella's hand. She looks at me again and furrows her eyebrows. "Are you sure you don't love her?"

I laughed, man; she's a determined little thing. "No I don't. Sorry." I gave her a little smile.

She smiled back and shrugged. "It's okay. Don't worry, you will." She turned and headed for the door, but spoke once last time as she opened it to leave. "Even the beast fell in love."

**Okay so let me have it... What do you think? ... Oh and did any of you die-hard Robert Pattinson fans catch the meaning to her Room #? hee hee! ;)**


	3. Maybe it's just a kid thing

**Here is the third chapter. Thank you all for you kind reviews. I love the fact that some of you are catching on that there is more to Lily's story. You need to keep reading to find out how our dear blue eyed little lady is connected to all this. Anyhoo, like I said, here is the third chapter. Enjoy! :)**

**Chapter 3**

"Oh come on! 1350! You have got to be kidding me!" I hit the 'off' button on the remote and slammed it onto the table by Bella's bed. "Jackass! Don't even know why I bother to watch that show." Stupid Price Is Right, but I can never seem to make myself stop watching those idiots. I run a hand through my hair, sigh, and then look up at the sleeping beauty. This makes day 6 with Bella. I have started myself a little routine. Routine? Pssh! I could make you an itinerary out of my little routine; I have it down to an art.

_**A Day with Bella**_

_**8am – 10am - Eat Breakfast with Bella**_(well I eat; she sleeps);_**Read Bella the Newspaper.**_

_**10am-11am - Explain to her the weather outside and what my previous night consisted of after I left her.**_

_**11am-12pm – Watch Price Is Right**_(stupid show!)

_**12pm-1pm - Watch the local news**_(I turn the volume up loud enough for Bella to hear and then I tell her my opinions on each story they cover.)

_**1pm – 2pm - Go eat lunch with dad while the nurses pamper Bella. (I.e. sponge bath and primping her hair.) **_Angela says that even though she's asleep all the time doesn't mean that she can't look her best while doing it. She would get along great with my sister Alice.

_**2pm – 3pm - Play "Go Fish" with Lily in Bella's room.**__**(Still don't understand how Lily manages to kick my ass every time.) **_While we're playing Lily usually plays 20 questions with me. The only trouble with this game is that she is learning everything about me and I'm learning nothing about her. I've decided to change that.

_**3pm – 5pm -Talk to Bella about… well, everything.**_It's really easy to talk to someone who doesn't talk back. I haven't talked about anything too deep. I just tell her about me and what I like; kind of like what I do with Lily except for the whole asking questions part.

_**5pm-6pm - Another round of the local news and my opinions about them.**_

_**6pm-7pm - Me trying to guess things about Bella and reading her jokes out of this old joke book that I have.**_

_**7pm-8pm - Aw, my final hour with her.**__ For the first half hour_ I make sure she has everything she needs, which isn't much. I make sure all of her machines are working correctly and that nothing looks out of the ordinary_. For the last half_ hour I sit with her quietly and just stare at her. Well, okay I guess I should be honest… I touch her. Don't look at me like that! I don't touch her in that way, even I'm not that demented. What I meant was that I hold her hand and stroke her face, pushing the hair out of her face. Don't read more into it than what's there. I don't have _**feelings**_ for her, I just… _**feel for her**_. I mean, here she lies in this hospital with no family here to comfort her and love her. It's just, sad.

As I'm sitting there, leaned back in the chair with my feet propped up at the end of her bed; telling her what I think about the guy who killed his wife and three kids, I hear the door open and close. In walks my blue eyed little lady. I check my watch, whoa, it's only 12:30… this will throw my off my whole day.

"Hi Edward!" Lily says in her usual bouncy voice.

"Hello Miss Lily. What brings you here?" I asked turning off the television.

She tilted her head to the side and furrowed her brows at me. "I come in here every day silly."

"Yes you do, but you're early today."

"Oh. Well, I'm bored." She shrugged and then walked over to the end of Bella's bed and rubbed her feet lightly.

I smiled at her show of affection towards her 'bestest friend' as she likes to call Bella. How you can develop such deep devotion to someone who is asleep 24/7 I'll never know. I put my feet back on the floor and sat up straighter. "Alright, then what do you want to do?"

As she opened her mouth to answer me, the nurses walked in. "Time for Bella's girl time. Everybody out." Rosalie stated as she walked in with a new gown for Bella to wear.

"Okay, Miss Lily it looks like you and me will be having lunch with my dad first. During lunch we can decide what fun thing you want us to do. Deal?" I held my hand out to her as I stood, preparing to leave.

She smiled. "Deal." She took my hand and we started making our way towards the doctor's lounge. My mom usually made my lunch (yes I am well aware that I am a spoiled brat), I had mentioned Lily to my mom and so now she sends an extra meal with mine just for Lily.

Lily was talking my ear off most of the way to the lounge, but I noticed when we were almost there she had gotten eerily quiet. I sat us at my usual table and took notice that my dad wasn't there yet, but it's still a little early for him. Lily was still being eerily quiet so once I had our lunches arranged I decided to figure out this new puzzle.

"What's wrong kiddo? You got real quiet all the sudden." I nudged her little arm with my elbow.

She shrugged and looked down with a big frown on her face. "Nothing."

"Well it's got to be something, a big something at that, if it took away your beautiful smile. Come on tell your good friend Edward what's going on." I put my sandwich down and turned to face her.

"Bella has no pictures." She said keeping her eyes on her sandwich. "Or flowers." I just sat there staring at her not knowing what she needed me to say. "No one loves Bella." Her bottom lip started to tremble.

Shit! Okay think! "Um, Lily, where is this coming from? What made you think about that?"

"On our way here I saw somebody else's room and they had all kinds of pretty things in there. I saw pictures and flowers. I even saw a balloon! That person is loved." She looked down at her hands now resting in her lap. "Bella isn't loved." She whispered.

I sighed. Okay let's think here. What can I do to fix this? Cue the light bulb to come on. "I've got an idea kiddo! How about you and I decorate Bella's room? You love Bella right?" She nodded. "Okay, so now we know that she's loved; now we need to show everyone else that she's loved. Okay let's make a list of what we'll need." I grabbed a napkin and bummed a pen off of one of the nearby doctors. "Okay so start naming off some things that we need for Bella's room."

She squinted her eyes and looked towards the ceiling. "Well… we need flowers, but not just any kind; her favorite kind." I nodded and wrote it down. I don't know how we'll figure out her favorite kind, but I'll get to that later. "We'll need… a balloon! No! Make that two balloons! One that says to get better and the other one should say that we love her." She smiled up at me and then looked over my shoulder while I wrote.

"Okay, what else." I looked at her while she thought some more.

"Pictures! She needs pictures in her room." All the sudden her smile went away and her shoulders slumped.

"Hey hey! What happened to your enthusiasm? What's wrong now?" I asked utterly confused.

"How are we going to get pictures for her? I hear the nurses say that she has no family and I don't see any of her stuff in her room. She doesn't have a bag that has things in it. She has nothing." I saw her lip tremble again.

"Hey we'll figure something out kiddo. Here comes my dad now, maybe he knows if they found anything of hers when she was brought in here." I said as I saw my dad approach me and Lily.

"Well I see we have the honorable Lillian Jergens at our table with us today. Son, I do believe you and I are the two luckiest men in this room." He smiled at Lily, but then noticed her frown and looked to me for an answer. "What's going on?"

"Well dad, Lily and I would like to decorate Bella's room. We think that it should look more… homey. Right Lily?" I looked to my partner in crime.

"Yeah, people need to know that we love her." At this sentence my dad turned to me with an eyebrow raised.

"Not like that for me dad." I smiled and damn! I think I just blushed a little. What the hell? "Lily just doesn't' want people to think that no one cares about her. We were just making a list of all the things we'd like to put in her room and we had gotten to something that could be rather difficult for us to find."

"Oh yeah? What's that?" My dad asked as he took a bite of his salad.

I looked to Lily before looking back at my dad. "We want to put some pictures in her room. Maybe some pictures of family members, like her mom and dad for instance. Do you know if they found anything like that at the scene? I know you said that they had found her driver's license so I didn't know if they had happened to find anything else." My dad sat his fork down and then wiped his mouth with his napkin. I didn't like the look that had come on his face.

"Do you know where we can find pictures for Bella, Dr. Cullen?" Lily asked with so much hope in her little voice.

He smiled gently at her and then sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. Yeah, that's one thing I definitely got from my dad; when stressed we pull our hair out. "I have what they believe to be Bella's belongings in my office upstairs. Edward can come up now and look through them to see if there are any pictures that you can use." He stood up, pushing in his chair, and patting my shoulder as he walked to the door.

I looked after him, completely lost as to why just I could go up there. I looked at Lily and smiled. "Don't worry kiddo. I'll pick out the best pictures I can find. Come on I'll drop you off with the nurses on the way there." I lead Lily to the nurses' station and left her with Angela and Rosalie. As I was walking away I could hear her start to explain in full detail what we were going to do for Bella.

I made it to my dad's office and walked on in since the door was left open. My dad was sitting at his desk with his head in his hands. Without looking up at me he said "Close the door." Shit, this isn't going to be good.

I noticed a box sitting on the edge of his desk. "Is that her things?"

My dad nodded, still not looking up at me, he waved his hand to the box. "Go ahead, but fair warning. Her mom and dad's things are in there too. Some things have… blood on them. Wear these." My dad pulled out a pair of his gloves and laid them on top of the box.

I put on the gloves and started going through box. I found a pack of gum, both her mom and dad's driver license, Bella's license, her library card, some money, a checkbook, two pens, a piece of paper with an address on it, and a few other odds and ends. Like dad said some things were a little bloody. I did manage to find a total of four pictures. One of Bella and her dad, one of Bella and her mom, one of Bella and a young man, which looked to be a prom photo, and finally one picture of Bella with another couple who were holding a baby in their arms.

I thanked my dad for his help and left him there in his office. When I got back to the nurses' station Lily had drawn up about 10 different pictures for Bella to have. I showed her the pictures I had found and I don't think I have ever seen her smile that big. It made me feel good. We decided to head down to the hospital gift shop to buy her some flowers and two balloons.

We bought her a bouquet of daisies because they were the only ones left and we did manage to find two balloons. One that said 'Get Well Soon' and the other said 'I Love You', we took a permanent marker and put an 'X' through the 'I' and changed it to 'We.' The nurses helped us decorate the room. We taped Lily's pictures up along the wall. Lily decided that we should tape the pictures with her parents on the rails of her bed, so that way when she wakes up they'll be the first thing she'll see. I honestly don't think it will be a good idea for those to be the first pictures she sees, but I guess you never know. The other two pictures we placed on the table by her bed along with the bouquet of daisies. I tied one balloon to her table and then the other to the chair in the room.

Once we were finished we all stood back to admire our handiwork. Lily giggled and we all looked down at her. "Much better." She smiled and gave one hard nod while crossing her arms against her chest.

"Much better indeed Lily. As amazing as this looks, I'm sorry to say that it's time for you to be heading back to your room little missy." Angela said while trying to shoo her out of the room.

Lily ran to me and hugged my leg and smiled up at me. I patted her head and smiled back. "See you tomorrow Edward!" She bounced out of the room with the nurses following behind.

I looked down at my watch and saw that it was 7:30. Wow, this day has flown by. Worth it though. I walked over to Bella's bed and sat in the chair beside it. I reached out and the smoothed her hair back from her face. I then reached for her hand and squeezed it gently. "You should really see all this Bella." I said looking around the room. "That little girl absolutely adores you and I'm not sure what power you have over her, but it's definitely something. I mean, she doesn't even know you, but she has this incredible love for you already. Maybe it's just a kid thing."

I looked up and happened to look at the picture hanging on her bed rail; it was the one of her and her dad. "You look just like your dad. You know, my dad said that he waited until they found you before he finally let go. Just hearing that lets me know that he loved you more than anything." I looked down at our hands. "You know, I've never said that to anyone… those three little words. I've sometimes thought there must be something wrong with me since I've never said that to anyone, and then other times I think it's a good thing that I've never said it to anyone. If I would've just said it to every single girl then I'd never know if it was real or just bullshit that I was trying to force on myself." I looked up at her sleeping form and studied her for a moment as I watched the machines help her breathe. "I wonder… have you ever said those words to anyone Bella?" I look over at the prom picture. "Yeah, a pretty girl like you… I'm sure you've said it." I looked back at our hands and then noticed my watch. It was closing in on 8pm; visiting hours are over.

I sigh and then stand up to stretch a little. "Okay well, I'll see you tomorrow then Bella." I leaned down and kissed her forehead. I froze in place, whoa, have no clue where that urge came from. I did it without thinking, that's scary. I walked over to grab my jacket off the chair, but when I picked it up something fell off of it. I picked up the folded piece of paper and opened it up. It was one of Lily's drawings.

However in this picture there were only two people; a man and a woman. To be more specific, Edward and Bella; that's how they were labeled. My breath hitched. However, what caught my breath wasn't the fact that the stick figures of me and Bella were holding hands, but it was the four words written in pink crayon at the bottom of the picture.

'_**Don't worry. You will.'**_

**So what do you think? Let me know. :)**


	4. Take a picture

**Okay so here is chapter 4. I gave you a small piece of both Lily and Bella's story... not much, just enough to wet your appetite. ;) From all the reviews that I have received, which were all so sweet, it seems that everyone has really taken a shine to Lily. I'm glad because I am enjoying writing for this character. Like I said here is chapter 4. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 4**

'_Welcome to Forks! Population 3,120' _The sign read as we drove into Forks city limits.

"About damn time little brother!" Emmett said from the passenger seat beside me. "It took us forever!"

"Shut up Em! It wasn't that long of a trip." I ran a hand through my hair as my nerves started to rise. What the hell am I doing in Forks, Washington you ask? Well I'm here to meet a family friend of Bella's. Let me catch you up…

It's been about two weeks since Lily and I decorated Bella's room. My routine has held tight these past two weeks, with one minor change. I've been learning things about little Miss Lily. For instance, I finally found out why she hangs around this hospital all the time. I always knew that she was never the one that was sick, but didn't know why a healthy kid was hanging around here all the time. Lily and I were in the middle of an intense game of 'Go Fish' in Bella's room when I started asking her some questions.

"_So Lily, I wanted to ask you something. Is that okay?" I looked up at her from behind my cards._

_She smiled and nodded at me. "It's okay."_

"_Are your parents sick?" I quietly asked._

_Her smile quickly faded. She swallowed and stared down at her cards as she answered me. "Just my daddy; Mommy's just very sad." She continued to stare at her cards. _

_I swallowed the lump in my throat. "I've never seen your mommy before, Lily. Does she look like you?" I tried to think of something to lighten the mood a little bit, but that only seemed to make it worse._

_She furrowed her eyebrows. "No, I don't look like my mommy. Not at all."_

_I cleared my throat. "Oh, um, so then you look like your dad, huh?" I smiled._

_She shook her head and seemed to be getting frustrated with my line of questioning. "No I don't look like daddy either. Daddy always tells me that I look a lot like my other mommy."_

_Uh, oh this just got a little more complicated. "Your other mommy?"_

"_Yeah, I don't know who she is. I thought I was supposed to have only one mommy, but daddy talks about my other mommy. I get very confused." She shook her head and finally looked into my eyes. "Do you know what he means Edward?"_

_I thought about it for a minute… the way she says it; it could be so many things. "No kiddo, I'm sorry, but I don't know what your daddy means by that. Maybe I can ask my dad and he might know."_

_She perked up right away. "Yeah! You're daddy is real smart Edward! He'll know." She seemed to be satisfied with this and we went about our game and I of course, lost again. _

I tried asking my dad about Lily's parents, but I wasn't really getting any answers from him. He was too excited about Bella's progress. Bella's vitals had been getting better every day and my dad was really starting to believe that it wouldn't be much longer before we'd get to see Bella open her eyes. All we could do was hope, pray, and wait. My dad was also too distracted with the new development in Bella's case.

About a week ago the hospital received a phone call from a middle aged man in Forks, Washington. He was inquiring about the condition of a Miss Isabella Swan, so of course; this news was of everyone's interest. The man that called was a man named Billy Black; he claims to be a dear friend of Bella's late father Charlie. My dad spoke with Mr. Black and pretty much interrogated the guy like a cop would. Well that's at least how Mr. Black described it when I spoke with him on the phone. He said that my dad reminded him of Bella's dad. Her dad apparently was the Chief of Police in Forks and was a well-liked man.

"_He was always true to his word. Charlie believed honesty was the best policy; there's no excuse to lie. None at all." Mr. Black sighed into the phone. "He was a good, good man and he will be deeply missed here."_

"_I'm sure. Of what I heard from the accident, he seemed to love his daughter very much." I said softly._

"_Oh my, yes! That girl was his whole world. Now, Charlie wasn't one to show his emotions like most people do. He would never come ri__ght out and tell you that he loved you, but he would show you in his actions. He bought Bells a can of pepper spray when she turned 16; that's the kind of actions I'm talking about. That was just his way of telling her that he loved her."I could tell that Mr. Black was smiling as he relived that memory._

"_Mr. Black, the reason I've called you is because my father, Dr. Cullen, said that you might be able to help me." I shifted in my chair. "I believe my dad told you that I sit with Bella pretty much all day, every day. Is that right?"_

"_Yes he told me. I thank you for that. I'm glad someone is there to sit with her, since I can't." We learned that Mr. Black was in a wheelchair and was not able to travel._

"_It's no trouble, Mr. Black. However, I don't know a thing about this woman that I sit with everyday. I would really like to learn more about her and I was wondering if you happened to know what they intended to do or were doing with Bella's things." I took a long sip of my coffee._

"_Well, as far as I know, everything is staying as is. The house hasn't been touched. I've been keeping up with their bills for her. I know she's going to have to deal with all this when she wakes up so I thought I could try to help her out. Why do you ask?"_

"_I was wondering if I might be able to look through her things. If that's alright with you? Like I said, I just want to get to know her better. I sit with her all the time and don't know a single thing about her; well, other than the obvious things." I began to bite my lip as I waited for his answer. _

_He finally let out a loud sigh. "I guess that's okay with me, but only certain things. You can't go through her drawers in her room or anything private like that. Understand?" Mr. Black said with a touch of parental authority._

"_Yes sir, I understand." I smiled. Finally I will get some answers about Bella._

I pull into the driveway of the address that Mr. Black had given me. It was a small two story house. It had white siding, black shutters, and some wilted rose bushes out front. I saw Mr. Black sitting in his wheelchair in front of the ramp off of the porch. There was a man who looked to be the same age as him standing to his right. They waved at me and my brother as we got out of the car and approached them.

"Mr. Black." I nodded to him as I extended my hand to him.

"Edward?" He asked and I nodded while he took my hand to shake.

"Mr. Black this is my older brother Emmett." I nodded towards Emmett, who shook hands with Mr. Black.

"Nice to meet you. You both can just call me Billy. Everyone else does. This here is Waylon, he's a friend of mine and was a friend of Charlie's too." We all shook hands and then made our way through the front door.

Just by entering the front door you could see how ordinary the family was. There was nothing extravagant standing out; nothing to catch anyone's attention. It was very simple and very plain.

As if reading my thoughts, Billy spoke. "Charlie was a very simple man. Renee, Bella's mother, was very crafty, but she had a studio in town where she did all her artwork and different creations. Bella is a lot like Charlie. She's very simple; yet, she has Renee's spitfire. Bella is stubborn, but at the same time it takes a lot for her to get mad at you. She's very forgiving; too forgiving at times." Billy looked sad and defeated as he said the last words. I figure I will learn about that at a later time.

Waylon looked to me with his hands in his pockets. "What's the latest on Bella's condition anyway? Anything new?" He and Billy both looked to me with such hope in their eyes.

"Actually her vitals are looking a lot better, according to my dad anyway. Her blood pressure is starting to come up to a more healthy level and they were actually able to remove the tube from her throat yesterday. She still needs an oxygen mask, but it's a lot better than being intubated." I smiled at them. "My dad has also been monitoring the swelling on her brain and it seems to be going down, slowly, but going down none-the-less." This was the hope that everyone was hanging on to. Everyone I knew was pulling for this girl to make it out of this alive.

Billy and Waylon both smiled at me and nodded their heads. "Bella's room is up the stairs, at the end of the hall, on your left. It's the only room where the door is shut. Just please respect my wishes and Bella's privacy. No snooping where your nose doesn't belong, got it?" Billy said furrowing his eyebrows at me and pointing his finger.

"Yes sir, I wouldn't disrespect you, Bella, or her family like that. Thank you again for allowing me this." I smiled at him and he nodded to me.

Emmett and I made our way upstairs and to the last door in the hall, where the only closed door was. I slowly opened it and was stunned by how simple, yet how extraordinary her room was. There was no fancy furniture; she had a plain, twin size bed with light purple sheets. There was a small desk in the corner of her room that had a computer sitting on top of it and a picture of her parents beside the desktop. What made this plain room so extraordinary were all the pictures that were hanging around. There wasn't an empty place on the wall; all four walls were completely covered. I slowly made my way around the room and studied all the pictures. I noticed that the pictures had no certain meaning and they weren't professional. They appeared to all be snapshots that she took herself.

However, I did notice that it was the same people in almost all of the pictures. I noticed the same boy that was in her prom photo was in about 80% of the photos on her walls. Okay, so this must be the boyfriend. If he's the boyfriend, then where is he and why hasn't he been by the hospital? Maybe he's an ex-boyfriend? Hmmm… I need to remember to ask Billy about this guy. In the pictures he wasn't in, her parents were. There were also a couple of girls who appeared in a few along with a couple other guys. These must be the friends from school. I brought my attention to her desk and skimmed the top to see if I could spot anything helpful to unraveling the mystery that is Bella.

I don't find anything on the desk that is search-worthy and I make my way to her dresser. I see her hair brush, some ponytail things, berets, perfume (yeah I smelled it, and it smelled fucktastic), and I also found some pieces of jewelry that looked to be antique. I then turned towards her bookshelf in the corner and looked over all her books. She appeared to have all of the classics; _Wuthering Heights, Gone with the Wind, Jane Eyre, _and_ Pride and Prejudice._ I noticed she also had a couple of Nicholas Sparks' novels; _The Notebook, Dear John,_ and _A Walk to Remember._ This girl loved her chick novels. I shook my head at that thought and looked over to see Emmett still looking over all the photos on the wall.

I laughed. "I think she needs a few more pictures in here." I said jokingly.

Emmett didn't laugh, just nodded and mumbled. "Yeah, just a few more."

I shrugged and then turned my attention back to the bookshelf and spotted what looked to be a scrapbook on one of the shelves.

I picked it up and started skimming through it. Once again there were more pictures, but there were also mementos. There was ticket stubs, wilted flower petals, pieces of letters, and quotes along the pages. I noticed there were a lot of pictures of the same boy in this album. It was the prom photo kid; I found one photo of him that I wish I hadn't found. It was a picture of him in a Marine uniform, his dress blues. This picture was part of a newspaper article titled; _Young Marine Killed In Action._ Underneath the picture read:

_**Jacob Black**_

_**1989 -2008**_

******Okay, so tell me what you think? Thanks for reading and supporting! :)**


	5. The Most Heartbreaking

**Okay so here is Chapter 5. Thank you all so much for your sweet reviews. This chapter focuses on Bella's story, so I apologize that's there no Lily in this chapter, but I'll make up for that in the next one. ;) Anyhoo, I haope you enjoy this chapter. There's some twists in this one. :)**

**Chapter 5**

I walked into my parent's house and collapsed onto their couch, with Emmett collapsing right beside me. Neither of us said a word, because there was none to be said. To say it was an informational day was an understatement. I heard footsteps and looked up to see my mom walk into the room.

"Hey, there are my boys! How was your trip? Did you learn a lot about our mystery girl?" My mom took a seat on a nearby lounger.

Both Emmett and I groaned. I rubbed my face with my hands trying to somehow relieve some of the stress. "Trip there and back was good; the in-between part was the kicker."

"What do you mean?" My mom leaned forward completely intrigued with what we learned.

Emmett finally spoke, which was the first time he had spoken since we left Bella's house. "Let's just say there's a lot more to Bella's sad story than what we thought. That girl has had it rough." My brother leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees.

My mom let out a small gasp. "Oh no. What did you boys find out?"

I filled my mom in on our trip there and finally getting to meet Billy in person. I informed her that we also got to meet another friend of the family, Waylon. I told her how simple the family appeared to be just by the looks of their home. My mom had the biggest smile form on her face when I explained what Bella's room looked like.

"Did you bring any of those pictures home? I'd like to see them and they would really go well in her room." My mom smiled at me.

"Yeah, I brought a few back that Billy agreed to. Anyway so I was looking around and I found this scrapbook. It had some more pictures in it, but it also had some mementos. It was kind of neat; she had all these different quotes in it. Bella seems to be really creative." I smiled at that, but as quickly as my smile appeared it faded just as fast.

Of course, my mom noticed. "What is it honey?"

"In that scrapbook I found a newspaper article titled _Young Marine Killed in Action_ and the young marine in question happened to be the boy that was in that prom photo with her."

My mom gasped. "Oh no!"

"Wait, it gets better." Emmett said sarcastically as he sat back against the back of the couch, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Yeah, the guy's name; is Jacob Black." I didn't say anything after that, waiting for the light bulb to come on over my mom's head.

And the light bulb is lit. "Wait! You mean it was Billy's son? I mean, I assume it's his son, is it?" My mom had her hand over her mouth in shock.

"Yeah it was his son, we asked Waylon about it." I said as I thought back and recalled to my mom the moment when Waylon came up to Bella's room to check our progress and he saw me looking at the article.

"_How's it going fellas? Billy wanted me to…" Waylon froze when he walked into the room and saw what I was holding. "Shit." He mumbled._

"_Is this…?" I couldn't even finish the question, but I didn't need to. Waylon knew what I meant._

"_Yeah it's Billy's boy. His only son actually. He has a daughter too, Rachel." Waylon leaned against the doorframe. _

_Emmett came to stand next to me to see what we were talking about. "Fuck! That's the dude from all her photos! Were they dating or something?" He asked looking up at Waylon and I was curious about that question myself._

_Waylon cleared his throat and shook his head. "No, they weren't dating, but not that Jake didn't try; trust me, that kid tried his hardest." He chuckled at some memory before he went on. "Bella only ever saw him as a friend. Those two grew up together; best of friends until the end. Jake decided to join the Marines right after graduation; he actually did boot camp between his junior and senior years due to some new program the military had started. After he graduated he was shipped overseas almost immediately. He hadn't even been over there two months when it happened." Waylon sighed and looked down at the floor._

"_What happened?" Emmett asked as he sat down in Bella's desk chair._

"_Suicide bomber." Waylon waited and then finally looked up at us. "According to the version we got; his team was securing the perimeter of a supposed terrorist headquarters and when they went inside that's when they found the bomber. There were no survivors; 8 men died that day, not boys… they were men." _

"_I'm sure Bella didn't take the news well." Emmett made the obvious observation._

"_Hit her hard, real hard. Jake had helped her through a lot; I mean A LOT. There's a lot about Bella you fellas still don't know and it's no one's place to tell you besides Bella herself. So go ahead and put that book back and get back downstairs; you've all been up here long enough." We nodded and he exited the room. _

_I went to put the scrapbook back on the shelf and when I did I saw a few papers had fallen from the book. I sat the book back on the shelf and got down on the floor to look for the fallen papers. I picked up the ones I could see, but I decided to look under the bed real quick in case I had happened to miss one sliding under there. When I looked under the bed I saw a shoebox that was decorated with pink paper and the words 'baby girl' were written all over it. My curiosity got the best of me and I pulled the box out from under the bed dusting it off in the process. I lost my breath when I opened the box._

_Emmett must have noticed my moment of shock because he was suddenly kneeling beside me. "What is it?" He peered over my shoulder and then I heard his breath hitch. "Holy…"_

"_Yeah, that's what I was thinking." I began to look through some of the belongings. A paper that had two baby footprints and two baby hand prints. A small zip lock bag that held a lock of someone's brown hair. A pair of white infant shoes that had pink laces and a small pink cap. In the bottom of the box were more photos, but these weren't taken by Bella; they were of Bella… pregnant. I noticed the pictures of her and her growing belly were to document how much her stomach grew each month because she had how far along she was written on the back of each picture. There were many pictures of her pregnant, but only one of her with the child. This picture was the most heartbreaking. _

_Bella is lying in a hospital bed sweaty and looking exhausted, but also looking like her world just stopped. In her arms is a tiny baby girl who has a soft smile on her face as her right eye peeks open at Bella. Bella is someone's mother… never saw that one coming. She looks so young in these pictures. There are only two more pictures that have the baby in it and one is of Bella's parents holding her. The other picture is of a couple holding the baby girl and I realize that I've seen this couple before. They're the couple that is in one of the pictures that sits in Bella's hospital room. Now it makes sense; she gave her baby up for adoption. Wow. _

"_Wow." Emmett echoed my thoughts. "Hey what's this?" Emmett reaches down into the box and pulls out a folded piece of paper. He unfolds it and silently read__s._

"_What is it?" I ask finally._

"_The baby's birth certificate." He scrunched his eyebrows and looked confused._

"_What's wrong?"_

"_Well, there are two things that I find interesting on here. Number one; the baby doesn't have a name. They just have her listed as __**Baby Girl Swan**__."_

"_Well, that's not uncommon when a mother plans to give the baby up for adoption. If she names the baby then she gets attached. It's part of keeping distance between herself and the baby. What's the other thing that bugs you?"_

"_There's no father listed." I peek over his shoulder. "I bet it was that Jake kid." Emmett suggested._

"_Nah, if it was him, she would've put that on there." I think about it for a minute. "Okay, so either she wasn't sure __**who**__ the father was __**or**__ she did know, but didn't want anyone else to know."_

_Emmett sat quietly for a moment obviously lost in thought. "This is really sad man." _

"_Tell me about it. Let's go before we get even more depressed."_

My mom sat in stunned silence after I finished telling her about our trip. "Bella… she has a… I just… wow."

"Yeah I know, it kind of knocks you speechless. We didn't see that one coming." We all sit in silence until we hear my dad come barreling through the house.

"Oh! Thank heavens you're back! It's Bella…" My dad was trying to catch his breath.

The rest of us all stood up waiting for him to continue. "Wh-What is it Carlisle?" My mom finally stuttered.

"Is she alright dad?" I can feel myself trembling.

He lets out a hysteric laugh. "She's better than alright Edward." He approaches me and places both hands on my shoulders with a beaming smile plastered on his face. "She's awake."

**Okay so tell me what you think! :)**


	6. Cold and Empty

**Okay so here is Chapter 6. A lot of the reviews I received from the last two chapters have been mentioning a possible connection between Bella and Lily... hmmmm? Interesting theory you all have. The answer is in this chapter, but the story behind it isn't. I couldn't give it to you all at once... what's the fun in that? So here is chapter 6. Thanks for all your wonderful reviews! Please enjoy! :)**

**Chapter 6**

"She's awake?" I repeated my dad's last words to me. "But… how… I thought it would be longer than this."

"So did I, son. We all did. This girl just keeps defying the odds." My dad said as he shook his head in amazement.

"Did she say anything Carlisle?" My mom spoke through tears. "Did you tell her about her parents?"

"She wasn't awake for very long, but she was very alert while she was. I didn't tell her about her parents yet because I believe it isn't safe to upset her like that right now. There's still so much we don't know about her condition. If she continues to wake up and be alert then we'll begin conducting tests tomorrow. She didn't say anything, but her eyes…" My dad trailed off.

"What about her eyes?" I asked.

"It was as if she was searching for something or someone. She would turn her head a little side to side, as much as she could, and it was like she was looking for someone."

"She was probably trying to figure where she is. I bet she is just so confused and lost." My mom let out more tears.

"Don't worry dear; we're here to help her. We're going to do our best at making sure she gets the best care. The only thing that scares me is the brain damage. I wasn't able to see any signs of it while she was awake today, but that doesn't mean it's not there. That's why I can't wait to start doing some tests."

"Well it's getting late, so I say we all turn in and then we can all go to the hospital together in the morning to officially meet Bella." My mom gave a sad smile. She was no doubt still thinking about Bella feeling lost in the hospital. Well that was nothing compared to how she'll feel when she's told that her parents are dead.

We all went to bed and I couldn't sleep. I didn't know exactly why I couldn't, but I had two theories. Theory number one: I was still running on an adrenaline high after hearing about Bella being awake. Theory number two: I am actually nervous about officially meeting Bella. For some reason I'm thinking the latter of the two is the most accurate. Why should I be nervous you ask? Well, these past weeks that I have been sitting with Bella has entailed me talking to her. No conversations, just me talking **to** her, not **with** her. I guess I'm a little nervous to see what she thinks about me and about my sitting with her every day. Will she appreciate what my family has done for her in her comatose state? Will she hate everyone just because we're alive and her parents aren't? Will she blame herself? Will she hate herself for being alive while they're dead? Will she hate herself because she was asleep while the funerals took place? Another question to be answered is will she continue to allow me and Lily to visit her once she meets us? So many questions that will hopefully get answers.

I had finally fallen asleep sometime after midnight. I awoke to the smell of bacon floating up the stairs. I went ahead and took a quick shower before making my way towards the delicious scents. When I made it to the kitchen my family was already there eating without me, all except for my dad who was nowhere in sight.

"He went to the hospital early, dear. He just couldn't wait any longer." My mom answered my unspoken question.

"Oh, okay. Well after we finish eating I can drive us all to the hospital if that's okay with you two?" My mom and brother nodded their heads in agreement.

We all quickly ate and made our way to the hospital. There was a new sense of hope coming from the ICU. Everyone seemed to be in better spirits and the closer we got to the nurses' station the more we heard Bella's name brought up in passing conversations. I saw Angela standing at the nurses' station looking over a file.

"Hi, Angela."

"Oh, hey Edward, Emmett, Mrs. Cullen. I guess you guys heard the news?" She said with a big smile.

"Yeah dad came rushing into the house to tell us last night. I just can't believe it." I shook my head in wonder.

"Yeah I know, neither can we. That girl is definitely some kind of miracle." She laughed.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw something small come around the corner. When I turned to get a full look I couldn't stop the smile from growing on my face. "Well if it isn't my favorite little lady!"

Lily looked up from her shoes once she heard me and smiled a big toothy smile. "Edward! You're back!" She ran to me and threw her arms around my neck when I bent down to her level.

"Sure am kiddo. I heard something amazing happened to our friend Bella while I was away." I winked at her.

"Yeah! Dr. Cullen said she woke up! I didn't get to see her pretty eyes, but Dr. Cullen said they're really, really pretty. He said that they're almost as pretty as mine, but hers are brown and mine are blue." I couldn't help but laugh at how excited she was. "But Edward they won't let me in there to see her. They keep saying she's not ready. I don't understand." She looked mad.

I stood back up and looked to Angela for an explanation. Angela sighed and then bent down to Lilly. "Lily we've had this discussion sweetheart many times today. I told you that even though Bella is awake it doesn't mean she's feeling better. Dr. Cullen is in there with her now and like he told you this morning, he'll let you know when she is feeling well enough for you to see her. Okay?" Lily nodded heavily. Angela sighed once more and stood back up to talk to us. "Dr. Cullen has been in there with her practically all morning. Bella isn't feeling well. So I can't guarantee that you'll all be able to see her today."

"What's really going on?" I asked trying to hide the panic. Angela shot her eyes quickly to Lily as if to tell me she couldn't say anything in front of my little lady.

My mom caught on. "Um, Lily you know I'm not here as much as Edward and Dr. Cullen are. Would you mind showing me around? I hear you are an expert on this floor." My mom smiled.

"What's an ex- ex-… what did you say?" Lily asked my mom.

My mom just laughed. "Show me around and I'll tell you." They held hands and headed down the hall. I turned my attention back to Angela.

"According to the evening nurses, Bella had a bad night last night. They said that around 1am they heard a blood-curdling scream come from her room. When they rushed in there, Bella was laying there with her eyes wide open in fear and she was holding onto the side of the bed like it was her lifeline. They think it was a nightmare, maybe about the accident. We don't know for sure though because Bella has yet to talk. Your father believes that she can, but won't. He had run some neurological tests this morning and everything miraculously appeared to be healing well. According to the scans there shouldn't be any brain damage. We don't know how much she remembers, if anything. When I went in there about an hour ago, she was just laying there staring straight ahead at the wall. Every now and then she'll whimper, but nothing more than that. Your father keeps trying to talk to her, but he isn't getting anywhere. None of us are." Angela rubbed her head, probably suffering from a headache due to the stress.

"Has she slept anymore since her nightmare?" Emmett asked.

"No, that's another problem. They sedated her after the nightmare, which was able to knock her out for about 3 hours, but she's been awake since then. She needs her rest, but I think she's just too terrified."

"There you boys are. Where's your mother?" My dad asked as he approached us.

"She's taking a walk with Lily." I answered. "How's Bella dad? Angela caught us up."

My dad sighed heavily while running his hand through his hair. "Not good, emotionally I mean. Physically she seems to be healing well. It's a miracle really. They haven't done tests on her spine yet, so I'm not sure about paralysis yet. She's just so cold and empty right now."

"You all haven't said anything about her parents yet have you?" My brother asked concerned for her mental health.

"No, no! As far as I know, no one has even mentioned her parents, not even her. I don't know. If she's not showed any signs of coming out of it by this afternoon, then I'm going to call for a psychiatric consult."

"Dad is it okay if I go in and sit with her?" I asked thinking that maybe I can make a difference.

"I don't know Edward. She really shouldn't have any visitors yet."

"Come on, dad. Just give me 10 minutes with her. Maybe I can make a difference." I could see him cracking.

"Alright, fine. You have 10 minutes. Just… be gentle with her." My dad started to lead me off to her room.

When we got there my dad opened the door and I followed him inside. I was shocked when he pulled back the curtain. There she was, awake. She was staring straight ahead, like Angela had described. I just couldn't get past how beautiful her eyes were, even as cold as they are right now, they're magnificent.

My dad brought me back to reality when he placed a hand on my shoulder. "Ten minutes." He reminded me.

Once he stepped outside I made my way over to the chair by her bed. I kept my eyes focused on her the whole time. I decided to start with something simple, so that I wouldn't startle her. "Hi, Bella. I'm Edward." I noticed that her eyes blinked quickly and her focus changed for a split second before returning to staring at the wall. "I don't know if you know me or not, but I've been sitting with you these last few weeks. I've been talking to you and sharing things with you. Bella did you hear me all those times I sat with you?" I still wasn't getting any further with her so I decided to try a different approach. "I went to your home in Forks yesterday. I met Billy and Waylon. Waylon told me about Jacob, I'm so sorry." I saw a minor change in her expression and heard a small whimper when I mentioned Jacob. I continued to talk about my trip to Forks, not mentioning her child, just what all I saw there. Like the grocery store, the school, the police station. I thought maybe mentioning the police station would get a reaction out of her, but nothing.

I decided to try one more thing, but I was scared as hell that this was going to send her even farther over the edge. I reached my hand up towards her hand on the bed. "Bella, I just want to try one thing." I slowly and gently wrapped my hand around hers. I held my breath, but I didn't hear the scream that I was expecting. There was just… nothing. It's like she's frozen in time. My ten minutes with her flew by and I didn't know they were up until I heard the door open and in walked my father holding Lily's hand as he led her in.

When Lily's eyes first fell on Bella her face lit up with the biggest smile I've ever seen, but it quickly fell when she realized that Bella wasn't really here. Whoever said kids don't know what's going on at that age is dead wrong. That kid knew exactly what was going on here. She's not dumb by any means.

"Now remember what we agreed to Lily. You can stay in here just for a minute with Edward and me, but then we have to give Bella time to rest. Okay?" Lily just nodded, letting go of my dad's hand, and made her way to Bella.

I watched as Lily looked Bella up and down to see if anything else had changed about her. Lily happened to notice that I was holding Bella's hand and I guess she decided to do the same. Since Bella had no response when I did it, I didn't stop Lily because I didn't think it would make a difference. Boy was I wrong! Lily slowly reached up and gently took Bella's hand in both of hers. I saw Bella's eyes change focus again for a split second.

"Bella?" Lily said. I heard a small whimper and I saw Bella's eyes begin to blink slower as if coming back to reality. "It's okay Bella." Then to me and my dad's amazement Bella turned her head and looked down at Lily. Lily gave her a small smile, "See? It's okay Bella."

I saw tears begin to roll down Bella's cheek. "Dad?" I whispered. I was too afraid to ruin this moment, but I didn't want Bella upset.

Before my dad could answer me, I heard another voice in the room, a new voice. It was hoarse and tired.

"Lily?"

**Okay so tell me what you think. :)**


	7. I Can't Save Her

**Sorry it took so long to update. You all have been very patient and I thank you for that. I have taken on a second job so it may take me a little longer to update. Anyway here is chapter 7. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 7 – EPOV**

I couldn't believe my ears and I don't think my dad could either. Bella just spoke; not only did she speak, but she knows who Lily is. How can that be?

"You know my name? I knew you and I would be best friends!" Lily said with the biggest smile on her face.

My dad slowly approached the bed. "Bella?" She raised her head to look at him with tears still falling down her cheeks. "Bella, do you know Lily?"

Bella frowned in concentration and she looked back to Lily like she was trying to solve a puzzle. "I don't know."

"You said her name before dad; maybe she just heard it when you said it." I suggested.

"That's possible." My dad said as Bella began shaking her head in disagreement.

"No, I know her. I'm not sure how though. I just have this… feeling. I can't explain it. Do you know how we know each other?" Bella asked Lily.

Lily shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I don't think I've met you awake."

Bella just nodded still looking completely confused, as we all were. She began rubbing at her head absentmindedly. My dad took another step towards her looking concerned. "Does your head hurt?"

"A little, but it usually does whenever I think." My dad and I exchanged a look, before she let out a humorless laugh. "That was supposed to be a joke, relax. Sorry I'm known for my morbid humor."

I smiled at that. I was amazed that she was able to joke in a situation like this. "You and I will get along well then. My family hates my morbid humor." I laughed.

Bella turned her focus to me now. She looked confused again. "Who are you?"

Oh, right. I guess she didn't hear me when I came in and started talking to her earlier. My dad answered her before I could. "Sorry, Bella this is my son Edward Cullen. He's been sitting with you these past few weeks."

Bella nodded, but I could tell her mind was elsewhere. I didn't know my dad had slipped up until she asked, "So you sat in here with me? You sat in here with my parents?"

I gulped down the lump in my throat and I saw my dad do the same. My dad pressed the nurse call button and Angela soon appeared in the room. "Angela can you please take Lily back to her father's room? We need to talk to Bella and can you have Rosalie prepare a sedative just in case."

Concern flashed across Angela's face. "Sure Dr. Cullen. Come on Lily." She and Lily left the room.

"Why do they need to have a sedative prepared?" Bella asked my father.

"Because I have some very sad news to tell you and I don't know how well you're going to take it. So it's just a precaution." He sat down on the stool close to her bed as she nodded for him to continue. "Do you remember how you got here? Do you remember why you were brought to the hospital?"

Bella thought for a moment, but finally shook her head. "No, I don't… wait." Bella closed her eyes and then I felt her squeeze my hand. "I remember the smell of burnt rubber, you know like how it smells when your breaks get too hot."

"What else do you remember Bella?" My dad encouraged her to continue.

"I remember…" She gasped and she squeezed her eyes tighter. She formed a death grip on my hand.

"Bella? What is it?" I asked as I stroked the back of her hand with my thumb.

She started crying and then she opened her eyes to look at me. "My parents; I remember talking to them. I remember we were in the car, but that's all I remember. Were we in an accident? Are they alright? Where are they? My dad, he has high blood pressure, he shouldn't worry about me. I need to see him to let him that I'm okay." She started moving around the bed and that's when she froze. Her hand flew to her mouth. "I can't move my legs! What's wrong with me? I want my dad! I need to see my dad! Where's my mom?" She started crying uncontrollably.

My dad looked at me with this pleading look that I couldn't understand. Why would he be pleading with me? "Bella I am so sorry. There was an accident. Your parents… I'm so sorry, but they didn't make it." I was now furious with my dad, but at the same time I realized now what he was pleading to me for. He was pleading for forgiveness for telling her right now.

Bella's sobs were all that could be heard. My dad hit the nurse's call button and Rosalie appeared within seconds. She handed my dad the syringe and he inserted it inside her I.V. It was about five minutes before her sobs turned into soft whimpers. My heart was literally breaking for this woman in front of me. She just lost her whole family and possibly her ability to walk. I could feel my eyes beginning to sting from my unshed tears.

My dad cleared his throat to get my attention. He motioned for me to follow him outside. Once outside of her room I quickly laid into him. "Dad! What the hell were you thinking? Did you really think that now was the best time to tell her?"

My dad sighed heavily. "Son, there was never going to be a good time to tell her that her parents are dead. It was best to get it out there now, that way she has time to accept it and adjust. If we let her continue thinking that there's a chance their still alive, then when she really found out it could hinder her recovery. Trust me it was for the best… it was best for her." My dad leaned back against the wall and let his head fall back against it with a small thump.

"Do you think she's paralyzed?" I asked while I ran my hand through my hair.

My dad pinched the bridge of his nose. "I don't know son, I honestly don't know. I'm praying like hell that it's only temporary. It's definitely paralysis, but whether it's temporary or permanent, I'm not sure. I'm going to go schedule her for some tests so we can know the sooner the better. "My dad patted me on my shoulder before walking past me towards the nurses' station.

I turned around and happened to see Emmett and my mom sitting in the nearby waiting room. I slowly walked in. "Hey."

My mom jumped up throwing her magazine on the nearest table. She wrapped me in a hug. "How did it go? I saw Angela take Lily out quite a while ago and then I saw Rosalie rushing in there! What happened?"

I sighed as I collapsed into a nearby chair. "Well for starters we think she knows Lily, but we're not sure how. She called Lily by her name and even said that she feels like she knows her, but she doesn't remember how she knows her."

"That's interesting." My brother said as he took the chair across from me.

"Yeah. We discovered that she remembers a few things about the accident. She remembers the smell of burnt rubber and she remembers talking to her parents. Which brought them up, and well then dad had no choice, but to tell her that they were gone." I let my head drop into my hands as I heard my mom gasp.

"Oh no! The poor thing." My mom cried.

"It gets even better." I said sarcastically. "There's definite paralysis. Dad is gone scheduling some tests for her now so that way they can determine if it's temporary or permanent."

"How do you know there's definite paralysis?" My brother asked.

"She tried to move Emmett, and… she couldn't." I sighed and could feel the stinging returning to my eyes. "It was awful. Watching the realization hit her again and again. When she realized that her parents were in the car with her and then when she realized she couldn't move her legs. It was horrible."

"Is she asleep now?" My mother asked as she wiped away some tears.

"Yeah, dad had her sedated. That's why Rosalie was rushing in there."

"Maybe we should head out then. It sounds like it's been a rather strenuous day for her anyway." My mom suggested.

"You guys go ahead. I'm going to stay here and sit with her until visiting hours are over." I tossed my keys to my brother. "Be careful with my baby now."

My brother smirked. "Sure thing little brother. Sure thing."

My mom kissed my cheek as she passed me. "Let me know if you need anything. One of us will be here when visiting hours are over to pick you up."

I simply nodded and then headed back into Bella's room. There she was back to the way I first remember her, well almost. She had a lot less tubes attached to her now. I take my usual seat next to her and pick up her hand. "I can't even imagine what you're going through." I rest my head down on the bed next to our joined hands and close my eyes. I must've fallen asleep because I was awoken by something lightly stroking my hair.

I slowly lifted my head and saw Bella looking down at me. I quickly realized that the light stroking was coming from her hand in my hair. It felt nice. At hearing myself think that, I sit up quickly. "Sorry. I guess I fell asleep."

Bella rested her head back against her pillow, but kept her eyes on me. "It's okay. You looked comfortable; I didn't want to disturb you."

I laughed. "You're the one lying in a hospital bed and you're worried about disrupting _me_?" She gave me a small smile in return and shrugged her shoulder.

We were quiet for a moment as she stared at where our hands were still joined. I wasn't going to let go of her hand until she told me to. "Was it instant?"

I choked on my own air. "Sorry. What?"

She looked up at me with tears in her eyes. "My parents. Was it instant?"

Shit! Wasn't prepared for this one at all. "Um, let me get my dad for you." I started to rise out of my seat, but her voice stopped me.

"No! I don't want Dr. Cullen to answer me. He'll sugar coat it. Tell me the truth please. I _need_ to know." She begged me.

I sighed and placed my other hand on top of our joined ones. "For your mother, yes it was instant."

A tear escaped her eye and began its long journey down her cheek. "My dad wasn't?"

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "I'm sorry, no, it wasn't. From what I heard he waited until they found you at the scene before he… let go."

More tears began to escape, but she was quickly wiping them away. "He held on until they found me? Wasn't I with them? I remember us in the car."

"Yes you were in the car with them, but… geez I don't if I should be telling you all of this." I said as I ran a hand through my hair.

"Please! I really _need_ to know. Please just keep going." She squeezed my hand.

I sighed heavily before continuing. "You were in the car with them, but when the impact occurred you were thrown from the vehicle. You were found in a ditch about 20 feet away from the car. Apparently the paramedics hadn't realized that someone else was with them and were getting ready to leave the scene when your dad kept repeating your name. They did some looking and that's when they found you." I reached my hand up and helped her wipe some falling tears. I handed her a tissue.

"How long have I been unconscious?" She asked.

"A few weeks."

"Weeks?" She was shocked. "Oh my gosh! They didn't already bury my parents did they?"

I nodded and listened to her sobs pick up again. I reached for the nurses call button, but her hand stopped me just before I could press it. "Don't! I don't need drugs! I just need to let it out. Please just sit with me. Don't call them in here." Her eyes were pleading with me to do as she asked.

I couldn't deny her. "Okay, but if it gets too bad then I need to call someone."

She nodded in understanding. We just sat together holding each other's hand while she let it all out. I can't imagine the pain she must be in. I couldn't blame her for not wanting to be sedated. I'd hate it if people kept drugging me up too when I needed to grieve.

The end of visiting hours arrived too soon. I wasn't ready to leave her just yet, and she wasn't ready to let me go either. However the hospital had its policy and the nurses had their rules to follow, so out I go. Before I left her room though she stopped me.

"Um, Edward? Right?" She asked, as she bit her lip.

I smiled. "Right."

"Will you be back tomorrow?" She looked scared and I hated to leave her, but I have no choice.

My smile grew bigger. "Yeah, I'll definitely be back tomorrow. Bright and early too."

She nodded. "Okay. Thank you."

I looked at her in confusion. "For what?"

She shrugged. "For coming back tomorrow. You don't have to, but you are so… thank you." She graced me with a small smile.

I smiled back and nodded. "You're welcome." With that I left her room and headed home. I laid in bed and fell asleep fairly quickly. However, my sleep was not dreamless. I kept seeing myself running through the halls of the hospital. I was trying to get to the end of the hall where Bella's room was, but the hall just kept getting longer and longer. The hall then turned into a highway and I could see the accident ahead of me. I could see Bella's body lying in the ditch. The harder I ran the further away she got. I couldn't get to her, no matter how hard I ran, I couldn't save her.

"I can't save her!" I kept screaming as I ran.

I look over and see Lily standing next to the ambulance. The last thing I heard before I jolted up in my bed was Lily saying to me, "Don't worry, you will."

**Okay, tell me what you think! :)**


	8. Damn

**Okay so I want to apologize for it taking me a while to update the story. But here is Chapter 8 and I made sure to make it good for you all. So enjoy and please review! Thanks to all my readers who have been so supportive and so sweet in their reviews! Hope you all had a wonderful Holiday. :)**

**Chapter 8 – EPOV**

I wasn't able to go back to sleep after my dream last night. The same dream I've been having the past three nights since Bella was told about her parents. I just stayed up and watched some mind-numbing television. Finally the time to get ready and go see Bella rolled around. I got showered and dressed, ate a quick breakfast, and was out the door. When I got to the hospital I headed straight for Bella's room and my heart dropped to my stomach when I opened the door.

The room was empty. I frantically began to search the room to see if she was really there just not visible. Nope, nothing. Her bed, machines, and everything were gone. I headed for the nurses' station and found Angela there just getting off the phone.

"Hey, Angela. I just went in to see…" I didn't even get to finish my sentence before she was already answering me.

"She's in a new room now. Since she was no longer considered to be in critical condition, your dad had her moved. He told to me let you know what room she was in when you got here. Her new room number is…" She flipped through some papers. "Here it is. Room 212."

I smiled at her as I pushed off the desk. "Thanks Angela." I had just turned around to head for the elevators when Angela's voice stopped me.

"She's not there." I turned around to look at her. "She's having tests done to see if the paralysis is temporary or permanent. The tests were scheduled for about an hour ago, so she should be heading back to her room shortly."

I smiled at her again. "Thanks Angela. I'll just head down there and wait for her."

I made my way to the elevators and then got off at the second floor. This floor seemed to have a different feel about it. There was more noise and it seemed to be more alive than the ICU. There was more life here. I made my way to room 212 and as I passed by the nurses' station I saw the one nurse I had hoped to never see again. Jessica Stanley, my friendly stalker from my college days. I notice she's busy and I pray she doesn't see me as I try to hurry past her. I even turn my head and look at the ground so as to hopefully disguise myself. Man, karma is a bitch, because I don't get by without being noticed.

"Edward?" I flinch, stop walking, and look over at the psychotic nightmare. "Wow that is you. How are you? What are you doing here? Is someone you know ill?" She asked a little too concerned for my liking.

"Hey, Jessica. I'm pretty good. I'm here visiting someone. A friend of mine, well a friend of the family's actually." I shove my hands in my pocket.

She walks around the desk to get closer to me and I take a step back. "It's been a while since I've seen you. I heard you're taking a break from med school?"

"Yeah, not really sure if that's what I want to do still or not. Just need a break from reality I guess. I see your nursing school went well. Do you like it here?" I hate that my mother raised me to be polite, because I hate myself for making small talk with this psycho right now.

"Oh, yeah it's great here. I heard your dad works here. I didn't think I'd be seeing you around here though. Now that I have seen you here, I'm _really_ enjoying working here." She rubbed her hand down my arm and batted her eyelashes at me.

Shit. Find an escape quickly. "Hello son." Thank you dad! I turn and see my dad approaching me.

"Hey dad! I was just chatting with Jessica here, catching up on old times. Where's Bella? Did the tests go okay?" I stepped closer to him to get away from Jessica.

"Hi Jess." My dad said friendly as ever. "She's on her way. She should be right behind me. The orderlies were bringing her up. I've discussed the tests results with Bella so it's up to her if she wants you to know or not."

I was about to comment on my dad's avoidance, but couldn't because I could feel my smile spread across my whole face when Bella caught my eye behind my dad. Dad and I stepped out of the way so the orderlies could bring her by. I stuck my hand out and touched hers for a split second as she passed and she smiled at me. "Morning." I say as she passes.

Dad and I start to follow her and as we begin walking towards Bella's room, I'm pulled back by my arm. I turn to see Jessica with a death grip on my arm. I clear my throat. "Did you need something Jessica?"

"Well I was just wondering. I get off work at 6pm tonight and I didn't know if maybe you wanted to grab a bite to eat." Once again she's batting her eyelashes at me. A sick part of me actually considered going to dinner with her just so I could get an easy fuck, but then I remember the last time I ended up in bed with her and I say screw that noise.

"Thanks for the offer Jessica, but I'll be here at the hospital until late. I plan to spend the day with Bella like I have been. "

"Well visiting hours are over at 8pm, so are you free after then?" Jessica asked. I can hear the desperation in her voice. Poor girl, I almost feel bad for her. Almost.

"I'm busy, but thanks again for the offer." I say as I pull away from her and catch up to my dad. We enter her room once the orderlies have her set up and they leave. I go stand at the end of her bed while my dad checks out her monitors. I put my hands in my pockets and rock back on my heels. "So, what's the verdict? What did the tests say?"

Bella smiled at me. "Well according to my doctor, the paralysis should only be temporary."

I looked to my dad for verification. "Yes it appears to only be temporary. As long as Bella takes it easy for now and then does some physical therapy when the rest of her body has healed then she should be able to have full function in both legs once again. It's just going to take some time and some patience." He looked pointedly at Bella when he said his last statement.

"What's that look for?" I ask trying to get in on the secret.

"I tend to be stubborn and set in my ways. I'm a lot like my dad in that way." I could hear the sadness in her voice, but she quickly continued and covered it up. "I don't have a lot of patience as your dad is figuring out." Her and my dad both laughed.

"Okay, well I'm going to head out and I'll check back in on you later Bella. Try to get some rest and if Edward here starts bugging you then kick him out, alright?" My dad patted her hand and checked her pulse once more.

Bella laughed. "Will do doc." My dad smiled at her and then nodded at me before he left the room. I grabbed a nearby chair and pulled it closer to the bed. I looked up to see her giving me a strange look, like she was trying to figure something out.

"What?" I asked with a shrug of my shoulders.

"You don't have much of a life do you?" She asked me flat out.

I coughed, because apparently I couldn't swallow that one. "I'm sorry?" Surely, I didn't hear her right.

"Sorry, that was very blunt of me. What I meant by that was why in the world are you sitting here with me? You must not be pretty bored to be coming here to sit with me every day."

"Oh, um, well at first my dad was paying me to do it. He hated that you didn't have anyone sitting here with you, so he paid me to come and sit with you all day." I noticed her wrinkle up her face in distaste. "It's not as bad as it sounds. I've enjoyed sitting with you and learning about you. I've also gotten to spend a lot of time with Lily as well. Speaking of Lily, does she know that you've been moved to another room?"

"Yeah, she was sitting on my bed with me when they moved me down here early this morning." She laughed. "That little girl is very persistent."

I smiled. "Don't I know it? Have you figured out how you know her yet?"

She furrowed her brows, lost in thought. "No, and it's been driving me crazy. I know that I know her. I can feel it. I just don't know how or why. I can remember pretty much everything, but there are a few things that I'm still a little fuzzy on. I talked to your dad about it this morning and he told me that temporary memory loss is expected with a head injury like the one I sustained. I just have to wait it out and it will eventually all come back to me I guess. Your dad was explaining to me that there is usually a trigger that causes it all to come flooding back. So I just have to be patient and wait." She huffed and leaned her head back against the pillows. "I hate waiting."

I smiled and reached for her hand. I've found that I really like holding her hand, I'm not sure why, but it's just nice to do it. "I'm surprised Lily isn't in here with you now."

A look of sadness crossed her face. "The nurses told me that her father took a turn for the worse last night. They're saying that it won't be much longer. It's so sad. I hate that Lily is going to lose her dad."

"Man that sucks. Poor kid." I shook my head and looked down towards my feet as I thought about my little lady losing her dad. Life really sucks sometimes.

"As much as I love morbidity, let's change to a better topic. What are the plans to keeping me entertained today?" Bella asked changing the subject.

As I was about to answer her, her door was being opened. In walks Jessica fucking Stanley, fanfuckingtastic! "I just came in to check on Bella here. Do you need anything Bella?" She asked Bella, but kept her eyes trained on me.

Bella giggled and when I looked at her she was looking at me. Obviously she knows what's going on here. "No thanks, Nurse…" Bella trailed off not knowing her name.

"Oh, I'm Nurse Stanley. Well you can call me Jessica, if you prefer. My close friends call me Jess and Edward here has called me a few things before too, but I don't think they're very appropriate for anyone else's ears." She smiled evilly and winked at me.

I swallowed down the vomit that threatened to explode out of me. "Yeah that was a long time ago Jessica. A long, long time ago." I stressed that it was in the past.

Bella was still smiling, amused by Jessica's antics. "Well, like I was saying, thanks Nurse Stanley for checking on me, but I think I have everything I need right here." Bella lifted up our joined hands, which I forgot I was still holding her hand. Holy crap! Bella is trying to help me out here. Yes! This girl is awesome! She is my new hero if she can get Jessica to back the hell off.

"Oh, um, okay. Well if you need anything just give me a call." She then looked right into my eyes. "That goes for you too Edward." She winked again and slowly started to make her way out the door.

Once she was finally out of the room and the door was closed, Bella let out the loudest laugh I have ever heard. "Well, I'm glad you found that so amusing." I sighed, let go of her hand, and leaned back in my chair exhausted. "That was brutal." I sighed.

Bella laughed. "She's not very subtle is she?" She laughed harder.

"No not at all." I shook my head once more and then we started planning on what to do to entertain Bella for the day.

Bella and I had a great day. We decided to play some board games to occupy some of our time. We played _Scrabble_ and I'm not even telling you how badly I got my ass kicked. I did however get to redeem myself when we played _Sorry_. I totally kicked her ass on that one. I got to learn her favorite color varies from day to day. She said it changes with her mood. Today her favorite color was green. I learned that she is clumsy, she is passionate, and her favorite ice cream flavor is chocolate.

I saw that the end of visiting hours was quickly approaching so I decided to go ahead and start cleaning up the mess we had made and make sure the room was back in order. Just a few minutes before 8pm Bella's door opened and my jaw dropped at the fact that Jessica Stanley was standing there. She was supposed to have left around 6pm I thought.

Bella was just as surprised as I was. "Nurse Stanley? I thought you went off the clock a couple of hours ago?" Bella quickly darted her eyes to me and then back to Jessica.

"Oh, um, yeah I did. I realized that I had forgot something here in my locker though so I came back to get it. I thought I would swing in here real quick and see how you were. You are my favorite patient after all." She gave her evil smile.

Bella looked a little frightened by her, but spoke to her anyway. "Your favorite patient, huh? That's the first time I've ever heard that one. Thanks, I guess."

Jessica wasn't even listening to Bella; she was staring right at me. "Well while I'm here I should let you know Edward that visiting hours are over. I can walk you out if you'd like?" She asked looking hopeful.

"Uh, thanks Jessica, but I'll be fine walking myself out." I said hoping to get rid of her.

"Oh, well I was kind of hoping you could walk me out, because I hate walking in a parking garage at night. You know with all the muggers and psychos that are out there." She shivered in fear.

Yeah psychos like you. I sighed. She caught me. My mom would kill me if I didn't walk her to her car after that little speech she just gave. "Okay, sure Jessica I can walk you to your car. Don't want you getting hurt or anything. Let me just say goodbye to Bella here first." I said hoping to at least get her out of the room for a second. I noticed that she wasn't leaving so I looked at her expectantly.

"Oh, I'm just waiting for you." She said smiling.

I sighed and shook my head. I was standing by Bella's bed and I looked down at her and smiled. She was still looking at Jessica, so I grabbed her hand and she finally looked up at me. She had a look of determination on her face, determined to do what I'm not sure. "I'll see you tomorrow." I smiled as she nodded and smiled at me. I leaned down to do my usual goodbye routine that has developed over the last couple of days. I lean down give her a hug, pull back, wish her sweet dreams, and then lean down and kiss her cheek. Don't ask me where this affection is coming from because I have no clue. It just feels right so I do it.

So I leaned down and gave her a hug and I pulled back like normal. "Have sweet dreams, pretty girl." I smiled and then leaned down to kiss her cheek, but tonight was different. When my lips were almost at her cheek, Bella turned her head at the last second and my lips ended up on hers. I raised my eyebrows in surprise at first, but noticed she wasn't backing down so I decided to just go with it. I'm sure she was just helping me with Stanley anyway. Bless her!

As I continued to kiss her she brought her hand up to rest on my cheek and that's when I felt that electric shock again. I gasped slightly and that was enough for Bella to slide her tongue into my mouth, which I believe was accidental on her part, considering the gasp I heard from her. We continued kissing for who knows how long. It could've been seconds, minutes, hours, I don't know. I just know that it was…. damn there aren't even words for how good it was.

I finally gave her one final peck and pulled back slightly. I opened my eyes just as she was opening her own. I stared into her eyes for a few more seconds, before I smiled and breathlessly said. "Good night."

She smiled and also spoke breathlessly. "Good night."

I grabbed my jacket off of the chair and headed towards the door. I turned back once more smiling at her and gave her a small nod as I closed the door.

I only had two thoughts running through my head after that kiss; even after walking Jessica to her car, avoiding her advances, driving home, and getting ready for bed.

One – _Damn….._

and

Two – _When can we do it again? _

**Okay so tell me what you think! :)**


	9. Friends For Now

**I am so sorry! I hate that it has taken me this long to update! I apologize and I hope that I haven't lost any of my loyal readers. I'm hoping that my life has settled enough for the moment that I can update my stories more now. I'm excited to dive back into them! I hope you enjoy this chapter and once again I apologize for the delay. **

**Chapter 9 – EPOV**

"Good morning Edward!"

I turned my head towards the welcome desk, "Good morning Mrs. Cope. You sure are looking lovely this morning." I gave her my famous smile and winked at her. She's been around this hospital since I can remember. She always tells me I'm her favorite around here.

She blushed, which I didn't know women her age were still capable of doing, but it's sweet and it reminds me a lot of my late grandmother. "You're always such a sweet talker Edward. You here to see your dad?"

"Yeah if I run into him, but I'm mostly here to see Bella. You know the usual." I smiled and looked down, and holy crap! I'm pretty sure I just blushed! What is up with that? When I looked back up I noticed Mrs. Cope's smile had faded. "Everything okay Mrs. Cope?"

She gave me a sad smile, "I'm sorry sweetie, but I've been told that Bella isn't taking any visitors today."

I immediately frowned. "What? Why? Is she okay? Did something happen? I thought she was doing better, I mean as well as she can considering she can't walk and she's basically orphaned, but I mean I thought…" Mrs. Cope luckily put me out of my miserable rambling.

"Oh no, sweetie, calm down. Take a deep breath." She said as she came around the corner and put her arm around me. "It's just… oh your dad is probably going to give me a swift kick in the butt for what I'm about to tell you, but oh well, I think you should know." She looked around us to see if anyone else was listening, then she pulled me off to the side. "Bella isn't alone in her room today."

This piqued my interest. "What do you mean she's not alone in her room? Is there… is it… is there another guy in there with her?"

Mrs. Cope quirked an eyebrow at me, "Now why do you sound disappointed about that? And why would you automatically assume it's a gentleman caller in there with her?" She placed her hands on her hips and stared me down.

"I… um, uh…. I just…" I tried to come up with a good reason, but was coming up empty handed.

"Relax sweetie, it's not another guy. I'm pretty sure your chair in her room is a hard one to fill." She winked at me and then her face grew serious once more. "Anyway, Bella's little roommate today is the hospital's favorite visitor Miss Lily. Lily's father passed away during the night. Poor thing is devastated and to make matters worse, her mother just walked out. She didn't even stay to comfort the poor girl, she just up and walked out of here. She almost looked like she was a zombie when she left." Mrs. Cope just shook her head like even she couldn't believe what she was telling me.

"Well, maybe her mom was just in shock, you know, I mean that has to be terrible to lose your husband."

"Edward, it doesn't excuse the fact that she left her child here with a bunch of strangers, I mean technically we're not really strangers to Lily anymore, but still that lady doesn't know us from Adam!"

"You're right, that is pretty careless. Has anyone gotten in touch with her since she left?"

"Yeah finally about an hour and a half ago. She said she just needed some time to process everything and then she would be back. She asked if Lily could just stay here for a couple more hours. Can you believe that? I never wanted to believe your father, but I guess he was right." Mrs. Cope muttered the last part as she walked back to her chair behind the counter.

"What was my dad right about?" I leaned against the counter waiting for Mrs. Cope to continue.

"That Lily's mother is a heartless bitch!" Mrs. Cope gasped after the words flew out of her mouth and smacked her hand to her mouth. I fought back a laugh from the shock of those words coming from sweet Mrs. Cope. "Oh I'm sorry Edward that was so rude of me to say that out loud. It's just your father had told me that he had spoken with Lily's father quite a bit when he was still coherent. Apparently sweet little Lily is adopted. They adopted her when she was a baby. However, the father was the one who actually wanted to adopt and start a family. The wife didn't really want kids, but she did it for him. She constantly worked and wasn't home, so Lily barely knows her. Her father became a stay-at-home dad once they adopted her. The poor thing will just be lost without him now. Now she's stuck with a heartless…" Mrs. Cope sighed heavily and moved on with the story. "She's with Bella, because Bella is the only able to console the poor child. Bella and your father asked that no one disturb them today. Sorry sweetie." She gave me another sad smile and patted my hand lying on the counter.

"That's okay, thanks for telling me what's going on. I'm going to head on up there anyway, and see if by chance my dad will let me in there to see my girls." I started to walk off when I realized what I said. I turned back around quickly to correct myself and found Mrs. Cope grinning widely at me. "That's not what I meant, I meant to say…"

Mrs. Cope held up her hand to stop me. "No honey, you had it right the first time. Now get on up there." She smiled and winked at me.

When I got off the elevator I pretty much collided with my dad. "Hey dad!"

He looked up from the file he was reading and smiled tiredly at me. "Hey son. Um, Bella isn't…"

"It's okay, dad. Mrs. Cope filled me in downstairs and don't be mad at her for telling me, she thought I should know." He just nodded at me. "Look I know that you guys don't want anyone bugging them, but I've gotten pretty close with both of them, and I'd really like to see my little lady and make sure she's okay. "

My dad sighed and rubbed his forehead with his free hand. "Alright, but only because I think you might actually do some good going in there. Go ahead, but… just take it easy alright?"

"Got it, dad. Thanks." I gave him one our usual man-hugs and made my way towards Bella's room. This day is definitely not going how I was thinking it would go when I woke up this morning. I was thinking that I could come visit Bella today and maybe work on the scaring Jessica away again. Kissing her was just so incredible the other night. I loved it and would really love to do it again soon. However, right now there's a little lady in her room who could use a couple of friends to lean on. I got to Bella's room and slowly pushed open her door.

It was dark in her room except for the light coming from the window. I saw Bella lying on her bed with Lily pressed up against her side. It looked like Lily had a death grip on Bella, she had Bella's hospital gown gripped tightly in her little fist. Her head was resting on Bella's shoulder. I could see that Bella was awake and was watching the television that was turned down so low you could barely hear it. As I walked further into the room I was able to see Lily's face and saw that her eyes were closed and she appeared to be asleep.

I raised my eyes to meet a pair of deep brown ones; I gave her a small smile and nodded towards my usual chair. "Is that seat taken?"

She didn't speak, but shook her head. I walked over to the chair and quietly moved it closer to the bed. I sat down and noticed then the way Bella was holding Lily. It was… protective… a tad bit possessive, and dare I say… maternal. The child's things that I found in Bella's bedroom came flooding back to me in that moment.

I cleared my throat to get Bella's attention since her eyes had drifted back to the television. She turned her head towards me. "You're a natural with her." I said as I nodded towards Lily.

Bella looked down at Lily and tightened her grip on her. "She makes it easy." She said quietly.

I smiled at them. "Yeah she makes it kind of hard not to like her. How long has she been asleep?"

"Not too long. She's been dozing off and on." Bella leaned her head down so it was resting on top of Lily's. Bella cleared her throat like she was nervous all the sudden. "Look, I'm sorry about the other night, the thing with Nurse Stanley. That was very inappropriate of me."

It hurt me a little bit that she apologized for kissing me. I certainly didn't regret it. "Don't apologize Bella. I appreciated the help on getting crazy Nurse Stanley off my back, but I'm still not sure if she's off my back completely yet. I might need your help again." I laughed trying to lighten the mood, but it didn't seem to work. "Hey look, don't worry about it okay? I certainly don't regret it. I enjoyed it actually."

I was honored with seeing Bella blush and look down. "Listen Edward, you're a nice guy, but I'm not… there's so much that you… I just… I can't I'm sorry." She kept her eyes down while she spoke.

I swallowed down the piece of my pride that got hurt. "It's okay Bella I understand. You've been through a lot and there's no way in hell I'm going to pressure you into anything. I'm really happy with just getting to be friends with you. And if that's all I get then I'm happy with that, but I wouldn't also mind seeing where this goes and possibly becoming more than friends." She started to speak, but I stopped her. "I know, you're not ready and we certainly don't know each other well enough yet, but that's what being friends and dating are for." I winked at her. "I'm going to be honest with you Bella… I like you. I think you're beautiful and funny. I really want to get to know you more and help you remember more things from your life. I love watching you with Lily; you'll be a great mother someday." I saw her flinch when I spoke the last words. I reached out and took one of her hands. "Just… let me be your friend Bella. Don't shut me out. Please don't shut me out."

She looked at our hands and she squeezed my hand tightly. "Okay," she whispered. "Friends." She nodded and graced me with a small smile.

I nodded and smiled back. "Friends." I agreed, but in my head added the words "_for now._"

**Okay so let me know what you think! We'll be hearing more about Lily and her father's passing in the next chapter. Thanks for being patient! :)**


End file.
